2017 – How this year rose your eyebrows on credibility of Mainstream Media !

Let’s wrap up 2017 with a study on shaking 4th Pillar of democracy – News. We grew up on Newspaper with breakfast and an half-an-hour News on Doordarshan at night. All the news houses involved had huge organization, journalists reaching the location first, gathering facts, spending hours writing for us.
If you think over it, every single word of the articles in newspapers had much sweat and money behind it.

But then a Tsunami of information took over. All hell broke loose, things changed with smartphones in everybody’s hand, social media and especially WhatsApp and the likes.

Yes, Fake News spreads like wildfire and we are trying best to contain it, using proofs as Mainstream Media but then whom do we look up to when even they are falling for it too. Why you may ask, is it for being first/exclusive/breaking or is it for tuning down efforts/expenditure that they now rely on Social Media as their source and don’t even confirm it ?

Although Fake News had been a part of society, media for ages but it was 2016 when people acknowledged it’s existence and understood the dangers. It was the great Nano GPS Chip in 2000 Note which brought Fake News in front. Many media houses ran story on it, even made animations to explain how a 2000 Note can be found 100s of feet under the ground and even in a vault with thickest of iron walls.

People somehow had a hope that this disaster may lead media houses to double check their facts first but the year 2017 came as a disappointment to them.

Let’s see some instances and decide whether to laugh them off or cry over our faith being shattered.

Fake News flew from a flooded airport.

A Photo was used by many media houses claiming to be of Ahmedabad Airport flooded in July 2017 rains while it actually was from Dec 2015, Chennai.

A Hailstorm imported from Turkey

Ochki cyclone came with a lot of fake stories too. A video of a giant wave engulfing a bridge claiming as Bandra Worli Sealink became viral. People are so absorbed with shock value that they didn’t even bother to see the video closely which actually is a small jetty with a guy walking and another on a bike. Well, the Sea-link has tall pillars, suspending wires and two wheeler and walking is not permitted.

But that was just WhatsApp and people, but almost entire Mainstream media fell for another video from Istanbul, Turkey shot in July 2017. Media published it to be a Hailstorm on Mumbai Pune highway, some claimed it Panvel claiming it to be Ochki Cyclone effects.

The video had two basic catch, one that cars were on right side, secondly a cars number plate was visible which was not from India.

But again, media didn’t check and published it as a big and breaking news.

Was that really a Rahul Chinese Chakkar ?

Now this one is tricky, was this a mistake or was a deliberate attempt ?
Few media houses ran stories, had debates with twitter hashtags over a “undated” photo of Rahul Gandhi with his family and Chinese officials, trying to figure out if there is some conspiracy going on LOL.

Well, the photo was from April 2017, posted on official Chinese Embassy website. The event was a Chinese food festival held in The Taj, New Delhi, also attended by leaders from other political parties as well.